Anne Arundel County Fairgrounds Reforestation

In 2019, Arundel Rivers Federation received a grant from the Chesapeake Bay Trust for the purpose of reforesting select areas of the Anne Arundel County Fairgrounds in Crownsville, Maryland. The Fairgrounds is approximately 75 square acres of primarily green space; four areas within the grounds were selected or reforestation. These four areas, comprising a total of 3.55 acres, were selected because they were unused open space that offered the opportunity to expand forest cover on the grounds while also managing invasive species. Prior to reforestation, these areas were primarily stands of mixed hardwoods heavily encumbered by invasive species, primarily oriental bittersweet, English ivy, and tree of heaven. The goals of the project are to expand native forested area and forest buffers in unused areas of the grounds, remove invasive species within the existing forest on the grounds, and create educational opportunities about the benefits of native species through the installation of signage and showcasing forest and invasive management methods.

In 2020 and 2021, Eco-Goats came in and cleared away (ate!) a lot of invasives from the planting areas; Arundel Rivers followed up by planting over 1,000 native trees.